Lost America examines a quiet stillness in a forgotten landscape that is, in a sense, ‘on pause’. Backwater towns and rural corners are juxtaposed with the ambiguity of detached suburbia. Places appear frozen in time, their inhabitants absent or long since departed. Ardently stagnant in appearance, the spaces yearn to instil a melancholic feeling of familiarity. One might not notice the scenes when viewed within the vast stretch of America’s panorama. Yet, framed as a vignette, each could appear to echo a moment of mournful reverie and reflective contemplation.
The Wall Frame, AR © Matthew Portch
Prada, TX © Matthew Portch
Using a scrupulous method of capture, Matt’s pictures aim to alter our view of familiar habitats as conscious retrospections. The discernibly banal metamorphosis into a perception of aesthetic beauty. His creative vision captures a calm and melancholic disposition in the landscape, evoking an emotional response. Environments are appraised as simple, clean, and graphic impressions. Purposefully devoid of people and any notable present-day objects, the images appear to have no concept of time.
In his system of capture, the full depth of the scene is arrested in focus, lending a heightened sense of reality. Each setting is deliberately mundane, so the detail becomes a character of the image itself. Restricting to the full-frame format without cropping is a deliberate reverence to large format film.
Matthew is currently based in Melbourne, Australia. Although he was born and raised in Bristol, England, the visuals of North America have always been a major influence on his life. He grew up through the ‘70s and ‘80s in a typical middle-class suburb. Television and film were his favourite distractions, the majority of which came from the USA. The backdrop of the North American scenery felt like an exotic antidote to the English city suburbs and countryside. A keen illustrator, he spent hours pouring over the minutia of his subject with the aim of making the illustrations as close to reality as possible. Almost photographic, if you will. This work saw him enrol in college at a young age, where he studied graphic design and photography.
Drawing on his childhood memories, the American landscape has remained a major source of inspiration for his work. Matt is inspired by the North American photographers of the ‘60s and ‘70s, who were prevalent in using large format film. This laborious system of capture seemed to enhance the seemingly ordinary-looking street scenes with fastidious detail. Matthew discovered a more modern process in the form of a technical camera, digital back, and precision optics, then proceeded to cast his own journey.
Matthew’s work has garnered numerous international awards, received recognition in the global press, and been featured in multiple exhibitions on an international stage.
www.mattportch.com
@matt_portch
All About Matthew Portch
Hoop by the Sea, CA © Matthew Portch
Little America, WY © Matthew Portch
Law Office, NM © Matthew Portch
Water Tower, NJ © Matthew Portch
